Chess on stamps II

Many years ago, when it seems like I had more time, and there was no computer screen to distract me, my stamp collection didn't gather dust on the shelf. "Topical Collecting" -- collecting stamps picturing certain topics, rather than the stamps of a single country, caught my interest, and I started to accumulate stamps with the chess theme. As I hand-lettered my album pages and researched the tournaments, I felt some regret that others couldn't share the lovely images.

Now, with the advent of a webpage which anyone can browse, my feeling of regret is gone: I've dusted off my collection, and the tiny images can be seen larger-than-life, through the magical philatelic magnifying lens of the WWW. Here I present a selection of some of the earliest ones, from 1947 through 1962.

Bulgaria 1947
USSR 1948
Jugoslavia 1950
Hungary 1950
Cuba 1951
Finland 1952
Bulgaria 1962

Chess on Stamps Checklist

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Bulgaria 1947: Balkan Games

This stamp, probably the first "chess stamp," is one of a set of five issued to commemorate the 1947 Balkan Games, held in Bulgaria, in which Chess was one of the sports. (The other four stamps portray bicycle racing, basketball, soccer, and the flags of the participating nations: Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Yugoslavia.)
Hungary was the winner of the Chess competition, with a team comprising Bakonyi, Benko, Barcza, Florian, Fuster, Gereban, Szabo, and Szny.

The stamp (9 leva, white and orange brown) was issued September 29, 1947, typographed on unwatermarked paper, perf 111/2. It was designed by St. Kancer, and 172,000 were issued. The vertical inscription translates: 'Balkan Games 1947,' and the horizontal: 'Republic of Bulgaria.'

Scott: 580 / Gibbons: 674 / Michel: 608 / Yvert: 541

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USSR 1948:
Tournament Match for the World Chess Championship, Moscow 1948

These stamps (Scott: 1299-1301) commemorate the 18th official World Chess Championship, held in The Hague, Netherlands, March 1-25, and in Moscow, April 10-18, 1948.

The match-tournament was held as a result of the death of the champion since 1921, Alexander A. Alekhine of France, on March 24, 1946, and was between Botvinnik, Euwe, Keres, Reshevsky, and Smyslov. Each player played each other five times.

Mikhail Botvinnik of the USSR, who had been scheduled to play Alekhine for the championship, was the winner by 3 points, with a score of 14-6. (Smyslov 11, Keres 101/2, Reshevsky 101/2, Euwe 4.)

Botvinnik lost the championship to Vassily Smyslov in 1957.

 

(The inscription on the 3 stamps reads: Tournament Match for the World Chess Championship, Moscow 1948.)

 

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Jugoslavia 1950:
IX Chess Olympiad - August 20 - 31, 1950

These stamps (Scott: 300-304) were issued to commemorate the Ninth Team Championsip of the world, held at the shores of Dalmatia, in Dubrovnik, Jugoslavia. During the tournament a harsh heat wave hit, seriously affecting some of the older players.

This was the first such event since World War II, and the last in which the USSR did not participate.

Jugoslavia emerged the winner from a field of 16:

1.	Jugoslavia	451/2		9.	France	281/2
2.	Argentina	431/2		10.	Finland	28
3.	West Germany	401/2		11.	Sweden	271/2
4.	USA	40		12.	Italy	25
5.	Netherlands	37		13.	Denmark	22
6.	Belgium	32		14.	Peru	211/2
7.	Austria	311/2		15.	Norway	15
8.	Chile	301/2		16.	Greece	12

The team was composed of Gligoric, Pirc, Vidmar, Puc, (Rabar, and Trifunovic).

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Hungary 1950:
Candidates Tournament: April 9 - May 16, 1950

These stamps (Scott: 889-890, C69, also imperf.) commemorate the Candidates Tournament, held in Budapest, Hungary, the first such event under the auspices of the F.I.D.E. Ten players participated: USSR - Boleslavsky, Bronstein, Flohr, Keres, Kotov, Lilienthal, Smyslov; Argentina - Najdorf; Sweden - Stahlberg; Hungary - Szabo. Unable to attend were Bondarevsky, Euwe, Fine and Reshevsky.

At the end of the two complete rounds of the tournament, there was a tie between Boleslavsky and Bronstein, with 12 points each. David Bronstein emerged the winner in the tie-breaking match, with a score of 3-2-9. He came to the tournament after winning the Interzonal in Saltsjöbaden, Sweden in 1948. (As a result, he earned the right to challenge Botvinik for the world championship, held in Moscow in 1951. He lost, drawing 12-12.)

(watermarked stars on the 1 forint.)

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Cuba 1951:
José Raúl Capablanca
30th Anniversary
World Champion of Chess

These stamps (Scott: 463-465, C44-46, E12) were issued as part of the commemoration of Capablanca's defeat of Emanuel Lasker for the World Championship. The match began March 15, 1921, and ended (prematurely) on April 21, when Lasker retired from the match. At this point he was down 0-4, with 10 draws. Lasker had been champion since 1894. Capablanca retained the title until 1927, when he lost to Alexander Alekhine.

Capablanca [1888-1942] learned the moves at the age of four by watching his father play, and defeated Cuba's best player in 1901. He attended Columbia University, NYC, in 1906-07, and in 1913 joined the Cuban diplomatic service, an occupation that facilitated his Chess career by permitting travel. From 1916 until 1924 he did not lose a game. He also played baseball, bridge and tennis well. He was felled by a stroke while watching a game at the Manhattan Chess Club and died the next day. His chess style had a deceptive appearance of simplicity; at his best, he could make the defeat of another master look easy.

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Finland 1952:
X Chess Olympiad: August 10 - 31, 1952

This stamp (Scott: 308) commemorates the Tenth Chess Olympiad, held in Helsinki, Finland. 25 countries competed, with the preliminaries being held August 10-19. This was the first time the USSR participated in the Team Championships, and they were the winners. The team was composed of Bronstein, Geller, Keres, and Smyslov, with Boleslavsky and Kotov as reserves.

	GROUP A			13.	East Germany	161/2
1.	USSR	21		14.	Denmark	16
2.	Argentina	191/2		15.	Cuba	15
3.	Jugoslavia	19		16.	England	14
4.	Czechoslovakia	18		17.	Austria	13
5.	USA	17		18.	Italy	121/2
6.	Hungary	16			GROUP C
7.	Sweden	13		19.	Brazil	181/2
8.	West Germany	101/2		20.	Greece	131/2
9.	Finland	10		21.	Norway	13
	GROUP B			22.	Switzerland	13
10.	Netherlands	21		23.	Iceland	121/2
11.	Israel	191/2		24.	Saar	121/2
12.	Poland	151/2		25.	Luxemburg	1

The American Team, which finished 5th, was composed of Reshevsky, Evans, R. Byrne, Bisguier, Koltanowski, and Berliner. The Finnish Team (9th), was Böök, Ojanen, Kaila, Salo, Fred, and Niemelä.

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Bulgaria 1962:
XV Chess Olympiad: Varna, July 1962

(Scott: 1225-1229 +imperfs)

The USSR continued its domination of the Chess Olympiads, which began with their participation at Helsinki. 37 countries participated:

	GROUP A			19.	Belgium	22
1.	USSR	311/2		20.	Finland	201/2
2.	Yugoslavia	28		21.	Mongolia	20
3.	Argentina	26		22.	Switzerland	20
4.	USA	25		23.	Iceland	19
5.	Hungary	23		24.	Denmark	17
6.	Bulgaria	211/2			GROUP C
7.	West Germany	21		25.	Norway	321/2
8.	East Germany	201/2		26.	Albania	281/2
9.	Romania	201/2		27.	Tunisia	281/2
10.	Czechoslovakia	181/2		28.	India	261/2
11.	The Netherlands	18		29.	Iran	25
12.	Austria	101/2		30.	France	231/2
	GROUP B			31.	Puerto Rico	221/2
13.	Spain	261/2		32.	Uruguay	22
14.	England	261/2		33.	Greece	181/2
15.	Israel	25		34.	Luxembourg	18
16.	Cuba	221/2		35.	Turkey	17
17.	Sweden	221/2		36.	Ireland	141/2
18.	Poland	221/2		37.	Cyprus	11/2

From 1937 onwards (except at Dubrovnik 1950 and Munich 1958) the best results on each board were rewarded: 1. Olaffson, 2. Petrosian, 3. Spassky, 4. Ivkov & Sanguineti, 5. Geller, 6. Tal.